Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Enacting Empathy Through Language

Gary, Indiana was once known as the
murder capital of the nation. It is home to one of the most famous families in
the world, the Jacksons. It was hardly a place anyone would think was ideal for
developing one’s linguistic and cultural competence skills. But, it happens to
be the place where I was first introduced to cultural competence through
language.

Over the span of four consecutive
summers during my preteen years, my father enrolled my twin sister and I in a
program run through the Gary Public Schools Corporation called Study
Alternative International Languages (SAIL). The four-week program introduced
black kids to cultures and languages not traditionally offered in urban schools
such as: Chinese, Japanese, German, Arabic, and Russian. By the end of these
four-week sessions, we could sound out words, carry on basic conversations,
sing traditional songs, and understand cultural concepts. Through my education
at SAIL, I developed an immense appreciation for cultures other than my own. I
learned that there was value in understanding someone in the same way that they
understand themselves: through their language, values, and heritage.

My SAIL days prepared me to
navigate a world outside of my primarily brown community. I learned to not
flinch or laugh when I heard unfamiliar languages spoken in public. I didn’t
point when I saw people dressed in traditional clothing. In fact, I grew a
thirst to surround myself with more ethnic and linguistic diversity, and to
personally know and understand those who lived outside the bounds of my own
community

I have seen what language learning
and cross-cultural education can do for youth who may not have had the chance
to leave their own neighborhoods and experience other ways of life and
communication. In my life, practicing and becoming fluent in Spanish has forced
me to both seek out my own identity and to become comfortable sharing it with
others. When traveling through Latin America, for example, Spanish-speakers
often want to speak English with me! And they want to know who I am and what
culture I represent. There is a clear intersection between both of our desires
to learn more about each other, which opens the door for a deeper kind of
connection. These are moments that I embrace and look forward to in my travels.

In grad school I had classmates
from all over the world. In one of my class workgroups, I told my Chinese
friend that I knew a folk song in Mandarin. She did not believe me until I
started to sing the song that I had learned during my SAIL summers years ago.
She stared at me with simultaneous excitement and disbelief and
even began to record me singing the song. Though my pronunciation was a little
unrefined, the experience helped us bond in a different and more profound way.
She often struggled with speaking and writing in English, toward which I was totally
empathetic. To be able to communicate with her through this song, to be able to
express my appreciation for her identity, was a mutually beneficial gift.

In sum, when one hears, sees and
practices a language other than one’s native tongue, one learns more than just
sounds, intonation, and grammar. One seeks to understand the emotions
represented. One seeks the personal stories and conversations that act as
cross-cultural connectors. Most importantly, one becomes fluent in human
relationships and empathy.